Frequently Asked Questions

version 2.9, July 16, 2006
Maintained by Jimmy Maher (maher@grandecom.net)

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What is SPAG?

SPAG is an informative e-zine designed primarily to keep the gaming
public aware of text adventures and other types of interactive narrative 
available today. Most of the space is devoted to reviews. A new edition 
of SPAG is published each quarter.  Generally, you can expect a new issue
around the first of January, April, July, and October of each year.

SPAG was founded by G. Kevin "Whizzard" Wilson, and is currently
edited by Jimmy Maher.

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What about graphic adventures? 

SPAG has traditionally focused on games whose primary medium is text, and
this general policy will continue.  There is, however, a wider universe
of interactive storytelling, and SPAG may ocassionally (to thoroughly mix
my metaphors) dive into these waters when something particularly 
fascinating, such as the recent "interactive drama" Facade, is unleashed.
If you are interested in writing a review of a graphical game, feel free 
to contact the editor to see if your proposal will be a good fit for
SPAG.  The main thing to remember is that SPAG is not about kill counts,
frames per second, or any of the other traditional video game metrics.
We are rather all about this brave new medium of storytelling on the
computer.

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What does SPAG stand for?

As you may have guessed, SPAG is an acronym. It means "The Society for
the Promotion of Adventure Games". Originally, the 'P' was for
"Preservation"; however, in early 1997 a growing consensus that text
adventures weren't in immediate danger of extinction any more led to a
name change. 


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Cool. How do I join?

Well, actually you don't. There is no formal Society, just a loose
association of the contributors and readers of the SPAG 'zine. In a
sense, you join SPAG by reading it and/or writing for it.

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What is SPAG's format?

Each issue will begin with an editorial, any articles or letters to the
editor, and a news section reporting new games and recent developments in
the IF community. After that come the reviews, which will make up the
bulk of any issue. Some issues will include a "SPAG Specifics" section
after the regular reviews. This section is devoted to in-depth analyses
of IF, with spoilers included. Lastly, at the end of each issue will be
the SPAG submission policy and any closing notes. 

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Didn't there used to be a scoreboard or something?

For its first eight years, SPAG featured a scoreboard, a chart listing
the scores that SPAG readers gave to various IF games. The scoreboard
was discontinued as of issue #29 (June 20th, 2002).

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How do I submit a review to SPAG?

The easiest way to submit a review is to use the form available from 
the SPAG home page.  Fill it out as completely as you can, but do not 
stress over fields you are unsure about.  After submitting this form, 
you should receive a CCed copy of your submission in your email 
immediately.  You should then expect a personal acknowledgement from
the editor within a few days at the most.  If you do not receive 
these two confirmations, something may have gone wrong.  By all means,
email the editor to inquire.

Reviews, letters and ratings may also be sent by conventional email to
Jimmy Maher, maher@grandecom.net. ASCII text format is preferred, but 
MS Word and other formats will be accepted as attachments. If in doubt,
query first.

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What is SPAG's submission policy?

A SPAG review should be an intelligent discussion of a piece of
interactive fiction, and it should be written in polished prose. Within
those guidelines, all publishable reviews will be accepted as long as
they deal with a game that satisfies a (rather broad) definition of "text
adventure" or "interactive fiction". Reviews of games that have already
been reviewed three or more times in SPAG will only be accepted if they
make a significant original contribution to the discussion of those
games. Authors may not review their own games.

SPAG employs a "no-spoiler" policy for reviews, with the exception of
reviews intended for SPAG Specifics (see below). This policy has been
stretched a bit in the past, but now that SPAG Specifics exists, the no-
spoiler policy will be enforced rather more strictly.

SPAG Specifics is a small section that appears in some issues of SPAG.
This section is devoted to in-depth criticism of text adventures and
has no restrictions on spoilers, recognizing that avoidance of spoilers
can sometimes hinder the detailed examination of a piece of interactive
fiction. Specifics reviews are required to provide in-depth analysis to
justify their use of spoilers. 

SPAG also occasionally publishes articles. If you'd like to submit an
article for the next issue of SPAG, query first.

SPAG does not pay anything for contributions. Authors retain the
rights to their works. SPAG accepts reviews that have been published
before, but original works are preferred.

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Must I have completed a game to review it for SPAG?

In general, yes.  You would probably not be impressed by a published
movie review from someone who had wandered into the theatre halfway
through, or by a book review from someone who had lost interest and quit
reading before reaching the end.  An interactive fiction review is really
no different.  To give a game a fair shake, the reviewer must have seen
it through to the end.

The only exceptions apply to more experimental pieces which perhaps have
no traditional ending, or to games which are so bug-ridden as to be
uncompletable.  (Whether the latter is even worth your effort as a
reviewer when there are so many serious efforts worthy of your attention
is of course very much an open question.)

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How is SPAG distributed?

SPAG is primarily distributed via a mailing list. To subscribe,
send email to majordomo@df.lth.se with the line:

subscribe spag 

To be removed from the list, send an email message to the same address
with the line

unsubscribe spag 

SPAG is also available from the if-archive:

ftp://ftp.ifarchive.org/if-archive/magazines/SPAG/

Finally, SPAG has a web page of its own which includes all published
issues, a partial index of reviews, and HTML tables displaying the
Readers' Scoreboard. The web site is:

http://www.sparkynet.com/spag

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Why don't you just post SPAG to ?

The current policy is to distribute SPAG via the mailing list, and
just post pointers on Usenet. One reason for this is keeping track
of the number of readers.

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Where can I get back issues of SPAG?

Back issues are available from the web page, at
http://www.sparkynet.com/spag.

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Revision History

v 2.0 970917 - FAQ taken over by Magnus Olsson. Major revision.
v 2.1 970918 - Added ADVSYS and ALAN to platform codes.
v 2.2 990820 - FAQ taken over by Paul O'Brian. Minor revision.
v 2.3 991203 - Revision to scoring info and web page address
v 2.4 000925 - Updated submission policy
v 2.5 010925 - Changed GMD references to IF Archive
v 2.6 020617 - Updated FAQ to reflect discontinuation of scoreboard
v 2.7 050720 - FAQ taken over by Jimmy Maher  Revisions to follow.
v 2.8 050810 - Made a few changes to SPAG's editorial focus,
               publication schedule, and submission policy.
v 2.9 060716 - Removed information on the old Scoreboard, which has
	       been officially retired from the website.  Added
	       information on using the new web-based form to
	       submit reviews, and made a few other tweaks.	
	              
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Thank you for helping to keep text adventures alive!